we are following two big stories tonight. we've got the winter weather heading our way. but first, the latest developments on the fiscal cliff. gary nurenberg joins me with the latest as we actually just heard from president obama. >> after a long meeting the president came out to say he is still optimistic that a deal can be done reminding the country that we are only now three days away from the point where everyone's taxes go up and huge spending cuts kick in,

saying that would be wrong for the economy and wrong for the country. the president said he is urging the senate leaders, reid and mcconnell to come back to him with a plan by sunday. he says if they're unable to do that, then he is demanding that his backup proposal from last week allowing tax rates to rise for those making $250,000 and extending unemployment we was for 2 million jobless americans whose benefits will run out on january 1st, he wants that proposal to go to the house and the senate, the senate first, and demands an up or down vote. >> if you can get a majority in the house and a majority in the senate, then we should be able to pass a bill. so the american people are watching what we do here. obviously their patience is already thin. this is deja vu all over again. >> again, the president reiterated he wants that up or down vote and says that the american public deserves it. the president's remarks came after an hour meeting -- let me

try that again. the president's remarks came an hour and a half after he finished a white house talking session on the fiscal cliff with republican leaders john boehner and mitch mcconnell and democratic leaders harry reid and nancy pelosi. returning to capitol hill mitch mcconnell went to the senate floor saying he is optimistic there can be a deal. he believes it can come by sunday afternoon, and at that point he would go back to the president with whatever it is he and reid are agreeing to. he said's optimistic that the next 24 hours are critical. however, tennessee senator bob cochran says even if a deal does get done don't expect too much. >> we're goakd up with a small kick the can down the road bill that creates another fiscal cliff to deal with this fiscal cliff. >> the president did say deja vu all over again.

if corker is right, we are going to say some of the same machinations we've seen before. if it doesn't happen, the president wants that up or down vote on his plan. >> remember night, monday night is new year's eve when it all could go bad. >> and happy new year to you. >> thank you, gary. and economists are warning that going over that fiscal cliff could pull us all back into recession. congress impressional democrats attended a new year's eve style rally saying the fiscal cliff ball is in the republican court. surae chinn is on capitol hill. >> i'm urging congress to take action, stop playing games, and let's move on. >> reporter: frustration has boiled over for bob packer, a small business owner. >> i'm disappointed and angry. if they were my

representeddives, i'd certainly vote them out of office. >> on tie mitchell of brokering a deal is waning. >> we do have a chance, an outside chance to get this done. >> we need two words. presidential leadership, on not just taxing rich people. >> reporter: some democratic lawmakers are calling on the house speaker to call house republicans back to work. >> bring the house back now. show up to work. >> reporter: the speaker has ordered republicans back on sunday but democrats want them to return sooner. both sides are blaming each other for the lack of compromise. democrats say house speaker is boehner is holding all the cards. >> the speaker of the house has got to allow a vote. he has got to allow the full house to work their will and get it done. so far he has been unwilling to do that. >> reporter: in the final hours and days before the end of the year, bob packer knows this time of uncertainty is not good for business. >> if it actually does happen and tax rates go up, it definitely will hurt the business. >> reporter: but even he is

optimistic. >> i'm confident they will come to a resolution that works. >> on capitol hill, surae chinn, 9news. >> here is where things could get even worse. if there is no deal, 2 million unemployed americans will lose their benefits on cart daytime plus, the nation's borrowing limit to finance a $16 trillion debt maxes out monday. matt. derek, as you said, there are two big stories. the fiscal cliff and a weather sam, pretty powerful one heading our way. erica joins us. >> it could bring us our biggest snowfall so far this '84 and that would be a big deal. let's take a look new at satellite and radar. you can see that wintry weather approaching. there's a little bit of snow in basically the great lakes region and then rain approaching from kentucky, moving toward west virginia. that rain will change over to snow and a wintry mix. that's why a winter weather advisory is in effect from 3:00 a.m. tomorrow until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow, and for tall counties highlighted in blue, and it

looks like we could see an accumulation not only in those counties but also a little bit further south of that. that's what i'm expecting for this winter storm. snow with wintry mix arriving early in the morning with accumulations in the district and points north and west. a wintry mix with rain south and east of d.c. the precipitation moves out as we head into the afternoon and early eveninon saturday, but not after dumping about a coating in the district and even more north and west of that. so i will give you more of a breakdown of exactly what we can expect in your backyard in your full forecast. back to you. tonight firearm fans and firearms protesters are mixing it up at one of the area's largest gun shows. debra alfarone is live at the dulles expo center in chan till lee. debra, you've already see some really dicey confrontations. >> reporter: you could say that, and i have a lot more later on. the lines are long. the voices are loud.

the parking lot here is absolutely full. the nation's gun show, that's what they call it, is obviously pretty popular for gun enthusiasts and also for protesters. there's actually more gun enthusiasts than protesters. they kind of outnumbered those protesters 10 to 1 at least. but i tell you what they lost in numbers, those protesters certainly made up in that decibel level. they were loud, they were out protesting, and they basically say they want what they call the gun show loophole closed. they say guns can be sold to anyone without a background check, although people on the line that we spoke to say that's not true. code pink calls themselves a women-initiated grass-roots peace movement. they were the ones who interrupted nra president wayne la pierre's big press conference. let's hear from their organizer, and then a gun owner waiting in line for the show. >> they can hear us and they know we are here.

>> there are things that can be done to strengthen gun laws, but outright banning the sale of certain weapons is not going to solve any problems. those weapons are still on the street. what you want to do is keep them out of the hands of criminals. >> derek. earlier you were talking about a confrontation. there were a couple of confrontations between protesters and gun enthusiasts. for now, live in chantilly, virginia, deb deposit, 9news. coming up at 7:00 we'll tell you how the newtown massacre has teachers thinking about arming themselves. we'll have all of that story and much more on 9news at 7:00. still ahead, how your neighborhoods are preparing for this weekend's snow. and right after the break, find out what happens when airport screeners find nearly $400,000 worth of heroin in a woman's suitcase. stay with us, we'll be right back.

a woman from ghana is behind bars accused of trying

to smuggle 11 pounds of heroin. the drugs were allegedly found in her suit case. tonight she is facing federal charges. lots more ahead on 9news. >> reporter: i'm scott broom with highway crews ramping up for some incoming snow. coming up, the latest travel advisories for your holiday weekend.

welcome back. don't we've been trying to answer your questions on the fiscal cliff and getting help with that task is linda, the

president of tax masters in rockville. linda, thanks for joining us. you have been following our facebook page. we've been asking our viewers to write questions or ask questions about the fiscal cliff. what are some of our viewers asking? >> they're asking very normal questions, like how would it affect their family with a limited income and a couple of chirp. i had to tell them it affects them quite a bit. if you have children under 17 you are immediately going to lose $500 for each child. >> that's a big hit. >> sts. the young couple with two children, that's $1,000 their taxes will go up on top of the 2% for their salary. >> is there anything people can do to protect themselves in advance of the fiscal cliff happening? the president came out and said he was still mildly optimistic. but if the isn't and the senate can't reach a deal, what could people possibly do?

>> contact their congressman. >> short of that is there anything people can do? increase their withholding on their paycheck? what could people possibly do? it's all going to happen automatically if and when the deal goes through because people will have more tax taken out because of the payroll tax, or they are going to lose deductions. most of the time they won't see a big deal until their first paycheck next year comes in. >> linda, president of tax masters in rockville, thanks for joining us and answering our viewers question. >> thank you, matt. >> highway officials throughout the region are warning holiday weekend travelers to stay off the roads if possible, he is special tomorrow morning. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in maryland where highway crews are not expecting a big symptoms, but they are expecting enough snow to make highways hazardous in just about every direction you can go. >> i do have travel plans, and that's to stay home. >> if you haven't been think about driving in winter weather now is the time.

>> reporter: at the command center in hanover, maryland, laura is keeping tabs on the developing forecast. >> it's never a good time to drive at the onset of a storm. so fur planning on traveling this weekend keep a close eye on the winter storm on saturday, and if possible, delay travel until later in the afternoon, after the storm passes, or even into sunday. we're pre treating roads right now in the d.c. and baltimore metropolitan area with the idea of being pro active, placing salt brain on the road. -- salt brine on the road. >> reporter: in maryland, scott broom, 9news now. >> meanwhile in the district 200 plows will take to the street at 4:00 this morning. they will be pretreating bridges and overpasses with a brine and beet juice material. when do you think the roads might get slick?

>> right around 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. the snow starts to arrive between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. i think it it will start stick pretty quickly because of the timing of the snowfall. let's take a look outside with the michael & son weather cam. taking a live shot of the jefferson memorial pretty clear out there. just a few clouds and a temperature of 38 degrees. but the dew point is 25, which for snow lovers is good news, because when the atmosphere is dry at the surface, there's nothing to keep the snowflakes from melting, sought looks like we will see some of that snow stick as we head into the early morning tomorrow. the snow and wintry mix, they're approaching. most of the snow will fall saturday morning, and most of the snow will fall north and west of the city as is typical. >> reporter: but we'll see a mix and even a little bit of rain mixing in south and east of town. in the district itself we will see a light accumulation of snow. the precipitation ends on saturday afternoon. suits fast moving system. right now it is 36 in leesburg,

37 manassas, 38 d.c., 33 at andrews. 34 in frederick. we will see those temperatures sliding through 30s and into the 20s overnight. here comes our system. light accumulation throughout the morning hours. overnight, the snow showers don't arrive until well after midnight. if you are planning on hitting the town i think will you be fine. make sure that you are back home before 2:00 or 3:00al. we will see the mix of he snow with a little rain especially south and east of town during the morning on saturday. temperatures remain in the 30s, so it's cold enough for some of that snow to stick, then during the afternoon the showers clear out and it will turn partly cloudy, still chilly 35, to 40 for your afternoon highs, winds northerly 10 to 15. so a wintry mix for everywhere you zion pink. that includes most of the beltway. snow as you head north and west

of the beltway. mostly rape, though, down toward the northern neck and the chesapeake and also the delmarva peninsula. so over the next three days we have to go with a yellow alert for tomorrow because of that snow and rain mix. a high of 40 degrees. then sunday mostly sunny and breezy with a high of 40, but the breezes won't be too terribly strong so we're keeping it in the green zone. monday, new year's eve looks good with a high of 44 degrees. seven-day forecast. looks like we could see another snow or rain shower on tuesday, new year's day, but no accumulation out of that system. aft moves out, it gets very cold, temperatures in the mid to upper 30s for highs on wednesday, thursday, and friday. >> let me tell you something, no matter how much it rains or snows or sleets, nothing will dampen the spirits of redskins fans gearing up. >> you are so right. truer words have never been spoken. seriously, there's not much else to say. if you're a football fan, especially if you're a redskins

fan, it's dallas week, with the division title on the line. sunday night, prime time, all that is going to make for one of the biggest games at fedexfield in recent history. we'll bring you up to speed and hear what dallas players to have say coming up.

you can throw all the records out the window. when it comes to washington and dallas the teams have played each other 104 times. 106 counting the postseason with dallas owning the rivalry, but no matter the numbers, these games are always hard- fought. the last time around, it was a thanksgiving day match-up. the redskins outlasted the cowboys 38-31 in dallas. quarterback robert griffin iii threw for 311 yards, four touchdown passes in that game. but that was then. this is now. players know they have to be on their game to win the game. >> nobody wants to be embarrassed on national tv. so you usually have pretty good

games in the prime time games, and everybody is going to give it their best shot. we just have to make sure that we're sharper than they are. >> we have to continue to take the same approach, forgetting about what we've done and focus all on dallas, good out and take care of business with them. >> rgiii was named rookie of the week, again. this is the 7th time for that distinction from the nfl. he claims the honor while healing from a sprained knee. the injury forced him to miss a start but head coach mike shanahan says griffin's knee looked good in practice today and that he is growing more comfortable with the brace on his right knee. the cowboys are in a precarious but familiar position, having to win their last regular season game against the division forks on the road to get into the playoffs. this is the third time in the last five years they've had to do it. they lost in philadelphia in 2008 and in new york in 2010. they don't want to repeat that trend and go home. but players and fans alike know anything is possible in that thanksgiving day game tony romo

threw for 441 yards and three second-half touchdowns in a loss. the fact of the matter is, in a smash mouth nfc east battle wearing at stake, anything can happen. >> this is one of the first rivalries you hear about when you join this team. it's a lot of pride behind this game. it will be one of those old- school knock-down drag-outs. the last man standing will feel like he lost, too, probably. we're in day 104 of the nhl lockout. today a new offering to the players association. no word on what the union or individual players think about it. nhl commissioner bill daly said they want to be back on the ice as soon as possible, but 104 days in, -- >> it sure doesn't feel like it. >> no. and if you're wondering about rutgers and virginia tech, rutgers subpoena in the russell athletic bowl. er i will car, how is our

stormy forecast? >> we're still watching the approach of that winter storm. overnight, temperatures dipping below freezing. it does look like the rain you see on the map is dog change over to snow. so this is what i'm expecting. snow north and west of the beltway, but we will see an accumulating snow even in the district, but it will be a very light accumulation. a coating to an inch in the district it sea. wintry mix with mostly rain south and east of d.c., and all this moves out by the afternoon on saturday. so if you had dinner plans on saturday, you will still be fine actually as long as your road is clear. but it is in the morning that you might want to stay at home. >> folks going to the game on sunday? >> it will be bundle up weather. that is for sure. it is going to feel like it's in the 20s during the game with that wind. >>er are could, thanks. we're out of time. thanks for watching. stay with wusa 9 for the cbs evening news next. then at 7:00 derek is here with the area's only local newscast.

have a great night.